Relatives Of Missing Press Kyrgyz Government

BISHKEK -- Some 30 protesters picketed the Kyrgyz government building today to demand swift clarification of the whereabouts of relatives missing since interethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan last year, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

The protesters demanded that all human remains found in the Osh and Jalal-Abad regions after the clashes should be identified as soon as possible.

They also said they tried to meet with visiting President Roza Otunbaeva and parliament speaker Akhmatbek Keldibekov in Osh on March 21, but failed to do so as security personnel did not let them approach. Otunbaeva started a week-long visit to Osh and Jalal-Abad on March 21.

The protesters said that since all their written demands and petitions have been left unanswered, they will start a hunger strike if today's protest is similarly ignored.

More than 400 ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz were killed during the clashes in Osh and Jalal-Abad in mid-June. Dozens of people are still considered missing, as many human remains found after the clashes have not been identified due to the lack of laboratory facilities in Kyrgyzstan to conduct DNA tests.